Why Albania needs to be on your travel wish list

Tirana does things its own way

The capital is a lively starting point, filled with bold architecture, pavement cafés, and reminders of Albania’s complex past. Skanderbeg Square sits at the centre of the city, close to the National Historical Museum and the 18th-century Et’hem Bey Mosque, while the former communist bunker Bunk’Art 2 offers a more sobering look at life under Enver Hoxha. Later, head to Blloku, once reserved for Albania’s political elite and now one of Tirana’s most popular areas for restaurants, rooftop drinks, and evenings that tend to run later than planned.

Historic towns and ancient ruins

Albania’s historic sites feel lived in rather than preserved behind glass. In Berat, rows of white Ottoman-era houses rise above the Osum River, earning it the nickname ‘the city of a thousand windows’, while Berat Castle still contains homes, churches, and cobbled lanes within its fortified walls. Gjirokastër has a darker, more dramatic character, with slate-roofed mansions, a steep old bazaar, and an imposing castle overlooking the Drino Valley. Farther south, the ruins of Butrint bring together a Greek theatre, Roman baths, Byzantine mosaics, and Venetian fortifications beside a peaceful lagoon.

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